Union faces long wait

Press, 17 July 1982, Page 12

Union faces long wait

PA Auckland Workers bound by longterm agreements or awards now face a wait of up to 3 b 2 years before the documents can be renewed because of the wage freeze, a trade union believes. The secretary of the Northern Local Government Officers’ Union, Mr K. M. Tuxford, said that officers employed by the Auckland Regional Authority could be particularly hard hit by the regulations. Its 2 b 2-year agreement was last negotiated in December, 1979. It expired at the end of last month and, but for the wage freeze, would have ' been renegotiated about now. “That is an intolerable position to be in. It means that because of the freeze they face an effective 3Va years without a new agreement." Mr Tuxford said.

He said that his union had about 12 other documents similarly affected. None of them was included in the schedule of agreements or awards exempt from the regulations.

Mr Tuxford has written to the Minister of Labour (Mr Bolger) asking that negotiations be allowed during the freeze on awards and agreements of a dura.tibn of two years or more. He said that he believed workers bound by such agreements were being punished for having taken a responsible attitude to industrial relations at a time when the Government was trying to encourage unions to negotiate longer-term documents.-

Mr Tuxford said if something was not done his union would never again go in to a long-term award. “I would advise other unions to keep out of them as well,” he said.